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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion

system connected to the power grid

Chapter · September 2022

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-821204-2.00086-6

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From Kraiem, Y., Abbes, D., 2023. Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed
wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid. In: GarcÃa, J. (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronic Power Engineering, vol. 3. Elsevier, pp.
485–501. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821204-2.00086-6.
ISBN: 9780128212042
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Elsevier
 Author's personal copy

Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion

system connected to the power grid
Youssef Kraiem and Dhaker Abbes, Univ. Lille, Arts et Metiers Institute of Technology, Centrale Lille, Lille, France
© 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction 486
Principle of wind energy conversion 487
Fixed speed wind turbine 487
Variable speed wind turbine 488
Interest of variable speed 489
Modeling of the wind turbine 489
Control of the wind turbine 490
Control of the pitch angle 490
MPPT strategies 491
MPPT with speed control 491
MPPT without speed control 492
Modeling and control of the PMSG 494
Grid-side control strategy 495
Active and reactive power control strategy 495
Modeling and control of the DC bus 496
Simulation test 498
Conclusion 500
References 500

Nomenclature
C Capacity of the DC bus
Cp Power coefficient
Cp-max Maximum power coefficient
f Coefficient of friction
G Speed multiplier
id, iq Direct and quadrature currents of the grid (A)
id-ref, iq-ref Reference of direct and quadratic currents injected into the power grid
Idc Current of the DC bus (A)
Im-1 Current modulated from the PMSG-side converter (A)
Im-res Current modulated from the grid-side converter (A)
isd*, isq* Reference of direct and quadratic currents of the PMSG
isd, isq Direct and quadratic components of the stator currents (A)
j Inertia
L, R Inductance and resistance of the filter
Ls, Rs Inductance and resistance of the stator
P Wind power (W)
p Poles pair number
Paer Aerodynamic power (W)
Pg Generated power (W)
PMPPT MPPT power (W)
PR, QR Active and reactive powers transferred to the grid
PR-ref, QR-ref References of active and reactive powers transferred to the grid
R Blade radius (m)
S Surface swept by the blades (m2)
Taer Aerodynamic torque (N.m)
Taer-est Estimated aerodynamic torque (N.m)
Tem Electromagnetic torque (N.m)

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486 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

Tem-MPPT MPPT Electromagnetic torque (N.m)

Udc DC bus voltage (V)
VNd, VNq Voltages modulated by inverter (V)
VNd1, VNq1 Voltages modulated by PI controllers (V)
VRd, VRq Direct and quadrature voltages of the grid (V)
Vsd, Vsq Direct and quadratic components of the stator voltages (V)
Vw Wind speed (m/s)
Vw-est Estimated wind speed (m/s)
wR Pulsation of the power grid (rd/s)
r Density of air (kg m
3)
b Pitch angle ( )
l Speed ratio
u Angular speed in rd/s
Jm Flux of the permanent magnet (wb)
Um Mechanical speed of the generator (rd/s)
Umn Rated speed of the generator (rd/s)
Uref Reference speed of the generator (rd/s)

Abstract

This article presents the modeling, control design and simulation of a variable speed Wind Energy Conversion System
(WECS). The WECS contains a wind turbine that drives a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The wind
turbine and the PMSG are connected to a DC bus voltage through AC/DC converter. The power at the DC bus voltage is
injected to the power grid through an inverter and RL (resistance and inductance) filter. The purpose of the modeling is to
apply a control design able to ensure the operation of the wind generator in the maximum power point, to keep the DC bus
voltage stable in its reference value, and to independently control the active and reactive powers injected to the grid. In
addition, a simulation test of the detailed WECS is presented to demonstrate the concepts discussed.

Introduction

In the electrical energy sector, the world seeks to significantly reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, characterized both by high green-
house gas emissions and by unstable prices. Operators in the electrical energy sector strive to diversify the energy mix, especially
through clean and renewable energy from geothermal, biomass, solar or wind sources. Thus, the world shifts toward renewable
and decentralized production plants (Krim et al., 2021). These decentralized generators are characterized by very short installation
times, unlike traditional centralized generators (Cheikh-Mohamad et al., 2021). Typical installations of decentralized renewable
generators are mainly photovoltaic and wind generators. These generators continued to dominate renewable capacity expansion,
jointly accounting more than 80% of all net renewable energy additions in 2021 (Camera, 2020). Wind contributions are split
between onshore and offshore. In terms of capacity installed in the world in GW, in 2021 wind generators represent 6.6% of global
electricity production (connaissancedesenergies, 2021). However, PV production represents the fastest growing electricity genera-
tion niche in recent years (Carrara et al., 2020). Alongside the high-power wind generation market, there is an increasing develop-
ment of small-size wind systems on isolated sites or connected to the power grid, to form a micro-grid (MG). The MG is the most
appropriate manner to add renewable distributed systems into the utility network (Krim et al., 2018).
Indeed, the Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) often uses a Permanent Magnets Synchronous Generator (PMSG) or
a double-fed induction generator (Krim et al., 2019; Parida et al., 2021). To maximize the efficiency of the wind turbine, various
solutions have been explored at different levels of the conversion chain. We can cite the power converters interface between the
generator and the loads or the electrical network (Krim et al., 2019). This interface is made up of two converters in cascade, inter-
connected through a DC bus. The role of the generator-side power converter is to extract the maximum power from the wind. The
grid-side power converter is the responsible of the control of the active and reactive powers transferred to grid, and consequently the
adjustment of the amplitude and frequency of the voltage at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) of the WECS and the power
grid.
To concretize the functions of the power converters, and to improve the quality of electric power produced by WECSs, a control
design is required (Krim et al., 2017). In Krim et al. (2018) a vector control strategy based on Proportional Integral (PI) controllers
have been suggested to address the problem of maximum power extraction and to regulate the level of the frequency and the voltage
at the PCC of the wind generator and the power grid. The command of the grid-side converter permits to control active and reactive

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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid 487

powers injected to the power grid and keeps the DC voltage stable with its reference value. The PI controllers have a good perfor-
mance for a linear system, which is not the case if there are disturbances and uncertainties acting on the system (Krim et al., 2016).
The modeling of the WECS was done to fully understand the operating principle and especially the control design of the main
elements of the system. Thus, this article has three objectives:

• The first one is to present the principle of wind energy conversion and the different configurations of wind power generators.
• The second one is to discuss the modeling and control of the WECS.
• The third one is to present a simulation test of a controlled model of a variable-speed WECS connected to the grid by using
MATLAB/Simulink software, in order to validate the modeling and the control design.

Principle of wind energy conversion

As presented in Fig. 1, the architecture of the WECS consists of a turbine, a PMSG coupled to a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
rectifier. The turbine and the PMSG are connected to the power grid through a DC bus low voltage, an inverter and RL (resistance
and inductance) filter.
The operating principle of the WECS is relatively simple. In fact, the force of the wind rotates the blades, which causes the kinetic
energy of the wind to be transformed into the rotational movement of the generator. The torque and speed of this movement
generate a mechanical power. This power is transmitted to the electric generator by means of a mechanical transmission called
the drive train. Then, an electromagnetic torque is created in the generator to break the speed. If there was no electromagnetic tor-
que, there would not be any electricity generated. The structure of the WECS strongly depends on the type of electrical machine and
its connection interface to the power grid or power consumers. For example, turbines employing multipole synchronous generators
use direct transmission (wind generator and rotor of the electric machine are coupled on the same shaft). However, most systems
(those using induction machines) use speed multipliers (gearbox with a certain multiplication ratio) for mechanical power trans-
mission. Therefore, the electric machine has an increased rotational speed and a reduced electromagnetic torque. The electrical
energy supplied by the generator can be transferred to the power grid, stored in storage systems, or transferred to individual
consumers. When the wind turbine is connected to the grid, the current flowing to the grid generates an electro-magnetic torque
that is opposed to the torque produced by the wind on the blades.

Fixed speed wind turbine

Fixed-speed wind turbines were the first to be developed. In this technology, the generator is directly coupled to the power grid.
Fixed speed wind turbine operates at constant speed. It means that whatever the wind speeds, the speed of the rotor of the wind
turbine is fixed and determined by the grid frequency and the number of pole pairs of the machine. They are usually equipped
with squirrel-cage induction machines, as shown in Fig. 2 (Hansen et al., 2015). This configuration is also known by the name
“Danish Concept” because it was developed and widely used in Denmark. For this configuration, a gearbox is required to adapt
the rotational speed of the main shaft connected to the turbine blades at the secondary shaft connected directly to the generator.
This configuration also requires a soft starter based on a thyristor which has the function of limiting the starting current, thus
ensuring a gradual start. Once this start-up phase is over, the soft starter is short-circuited via a by-pass switch (Gonzalo et al.,
2012). The fixed-speed wind turbine has the advantage of mechanical simplicity facilitating its maintenance, and the cost of its elec-
trical parts is low. It was very useful at the start of the wind power industry.

Fig. 1 Configuration of the WECS.

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488 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

Power grid
Turbine

Reactive compensation

Generator Squirrel-cage induction motor

Fig. 2 Fixed speed wind turbine based on squirrel-cage induction generator.

Nevertheless, one of the major drawbacks of this type of wind turbine is that the active power, reactive power, voltage, and the
rotational speed are related and dependent. It means that the increase in active power is only possible with an increase in the
consumption of reactive power, leading to a low power factor. In order to limit the absorption of reactive power, fixed wind turbine
must be equipped with a capacitor bank (See Fig. 2) as reactive power compensator (Gonzalo et al., 2012). In the case of a fault,
generator without any reactive power compensation system can lead to voltage instability on the power grid. Due to its direct
connection to the power grid, wind or frequency fluctuations are almost directly observed by the power grid.
This configuration is mainly used for high power wind farms of the order of one to a few MW for each turbine, but it is more and
more abandoned.

Variable speed wind turbine

This type of wind system is currently the most used. Variable speed operation is possible thanks to an interface of electronic power
converters, allowing complete (or partial) decoupling of the wind generator with the power grid. The most exploitable generators
are generally the double-fed induction generators shown in Fig. 3C (Swami Naidu and Singh, 2017), the wound-rotor synchronous
generators shown in Fig. 3A, and the PMSG shown in Fig. 3B.
Recently, the use of PMSGs is becoming more and more common for several reasons such as: lower operating noise, very high
torque that can be achieved at low speeds because the PMSG is directly connected to the turbine without a speed multiplier. In
addition, it does not require a power supply for the excitation since it is provided by the permanent magnets. Therefore, the effi-
ciency of a PMSG-based WECS is higher than other generators and this configuration is an attractive choice for grid-connected
variable-speed WECS. The salient pole PMSG can operate at low speed, and therefore the gearbox can be removed. This is a big
advantage of this type of generator, since the gearbox is a sensitive mechanical device in wind power systems. The same can be
achieved using a multipole PMSG. Variable speed operation become possible by incorporating power electronics converters. The
variable speed control system offers the following advantages:

A B

Power grid
Turbine
Power grid

AC/DC DC/AC
AC/DC DC/AC

Generator Permanent magnet

Wound-rotor
Generator synchronous machine
synchronous machine

C
Power grid

Generator Double-fed induction

machine

AC/DC DC/AC

Fig. 3 (A) Wound-rotor synchronous generator, (B) Permanent magnet synchronous generator, (C) Double-fed induction generator.

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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid 489

• Control of the aerodynamic power, through the control of the orientation angle of the blades.
• Variable speed operation to capture maximum wind power, through generator control.
• Control of the power transferred to the power grid, by means of an inverter. Therefore, wind turbines become more flexible in
power electronics, which increases their integration into the power grid.
• Very low noise for low-speed operation.

Interest of variable speed

All characteristics giving the available power as function of the rotational speed of the generator, for different wind speeds, are illus-
trated in Fig. 4. From these characteristics, if the generator is driven at a fixed speed, the theoretical maximum power curves would
not be exploited. For this, and in order to optimize the operating point in terms of extracted power, it must be able to adjust the
rotation speed of the shaft of the generator depending on the wind speed.
Indeed, for a wind speed V2, let point A correspond to the peak of the aerodynamic power of the coordinates (P1, U1). If the
turbine speed remains unchanged and the wind speed changes from V2 to V3, the power P2 becomes in another point B other
than the peak of the second characteristic. If we want to extract the maximum power, it is necessary to vary the speed of the generator
to another rotation speed U2 higher than the previous one U1. Hence the necessity to vary the rotation speed according to the wind
to reach the maximum power (point C).

Modeling of the wind turbine

A wind turbine is a power extraction system. Thus, the performance of a turbine is mainly characterized by how the power varies
with the wind profile. In steady state, the power of the wind crossing the circular surface S ¼ pR2 occupied by the three blades of the
turbine is defined as follows (Krim et al., 2016):
1
P ¼ rSVw3 (1)
2
where R is the radius of the circular surface of the blades of the wind turbine, r is the density of the air, and Vw is the wind speed.
The power captured by a wind turbine, also called aerodynamic power, is only part of the wind power, and is defined by the
following expression:
1
Paer ¼ rCp SVw3 (2)
2
Therefore, the power coefficient Cp gives information about the characteristics of the wind turbine. The efficiency Cp is expressed
as function of the speed ratio l and the orientation angle of the blades b. For example (Krim et al., 2018):

6000
V1=8m/s
P2 B C
V2=10m/s
5000
V3=12m/s
Aerodynamic power (kW)

4000
A
Power (W)

P1
3000

2000

1000

Ω1 Ω2
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Generator
Mechanical speed
speed Ωm (rd/s)

Fig. 4 Active power versus rotational speed of generator.

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490 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

8  
>
> 151
18:4
>
> C ¼ 0:5
0:58b
0:002b 2:14

10 e li
>
> p
li
<
1 (3)
>
> li ¼
>
> 1 0:003
>
>

: l
0:02b b3 þ 1

According to the Betz theory, the power coefficients Cp do not exceed 0.593 (Galdi et al., 2009), which corresponds to the Betz
limit. Therefore, the power produced by the turbine is 59.3% of the available wind power.
The speed ratio l is the variable expressed by the ratio between the mechanical speed Um and the wind speed Vw . It is calculated
as follows:
RUm
l¼ (4)
Vw
The model of the wind turbine is summarized by the diagram presented in Fig. 5.

Control of the wind turbine

The wind turbine is controlled to extract the maximum from the available wind power and to ensure the safety of the conversion
electric machine when the wind speed exceeds its nominal value. When the wind speed is higher than the nominal value, the orien-
tation angle b will be decreased to reduce the pressure on the lower surface of blades of the turbine and therefore decreases the force
of the torque. Reducing the force of the torque will decrease the rotor speed and therefore the output power, so that it is maintained
at its nominal value. This is the concept of the pitch angle control.
Thus, for the extraction of the maximum power, a Maximum Power Point tracking (MPPT) algorithm will be presented. For the
protection of the WECS against the high wind speed, especially when it exceeds its rated value, the pitch angle control must be put
forward.

Control of the pitch angle

The wind turbine is controlled primarily to operate in maximum power point (in MPPT) in order to supply the maximum of loads.
However, when the wind speed exceeds its rated value, the control system of the pitch angle b is intervened to limit the torque force
on the lower surface of blades. In this situation, the wind turbine operates without MPPT in limited mode, to keep the output power
and the rotational speed stable in their rated values. This concept of limited operation mode is detailed in this section.
To reduce the speed and avoid mechanical faults, in case of high wind speed, a blade guidance system is required. In this context,
to ensure the safety of the electric machine, it is necessary to limit its speed against high wind speed. This limitation is made by the

β Pitch angle control

Vw
β

Ωm
Tem-MPPT

MPPT algorithm

Vw
Taer Ωm

Tem-MPPT

Fig. 5 Diagram of wind turbine model.

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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid 491

control of the angle b of the blades. When the speed exceeds its rated value Umn, the coefficient Cp decreases by increasing the angle
b. This control strategy is presented by the following algorithm:
8
< bref ¼ b0 ¼ 0 for 0  Um  Umn
>

> Db (5)
: bref ¼ ðUm
Umn Þþ b0 for Um  Umn
DUm
where b0 is the initial pitch angle.
In most cases, the blade control system can be electrical or hydraulic. We can thus introduce a transfer function of the first order
to simulate the dynamics of the angle b (Krim et al., 2017).
1
b¼ b (6)
1 þ sb s ref
where sb is the constant time of the blades orientation system and s is the Laplace operator.
The typical curve giving the aerodynamic power of a variable speed wind turbine, as function of the wind speed, is illustrated in
Fig. 6.
Three operating zones can be distinguished. Zone A corresponds to very low speeds of insufficient wind to drive the turbine. The
zone B corresponds to the average speeds, who’s the wind turbine control system can intervene to control the electric power to be
generated. Zone C corresponds to very high wind speeds, for that the turbine rotation speed is limited at the rated to avoid structural
damage. Therefore, the electrical power is kept constant and equal to its nominal value.

MPPT strategies
In this part, different electromagnetic torque control strategies are presented, the purpose is to control the mechanical speed to maxi-
mize the power generation. There are two control structures, which are known under the MPPT terminology. The two structures of
MPPT presented below are based on the knowledge of the wind turbine characteristics.
However, in case of not knowing the characteristics of the wind turbine, there are other MPPT strategies have been explored. In
Dalala et al. (2013), a Perturb and Observe (P&O) method is proposed to search the maximum power point for a given wind speed.
The P&O method does not require any knowledge of the characteristics of the wind turbine. It is a flexible, simple, and independent
technique. Here, to extract the maximum power, the P&O method determines the optimum operating point by using the voltage at
loads terminals and comparing the power of the current cycle with the previous one. In wind energy conversion, the major drawback
of the P&O method is the sensitive against the rapid fluctuations of the wind speed. To overcome the P&O drawback, a fuzzy logic
(FL) controller is proposed (Tiwari and Ramesh Babu, 2016). Without pre-knowledge of characteristics of the wind turbine and
wind profile, the MPPT algorithm based on FL technology has been turned out to be effective (Hui et al., July 2011; Mouna and
Anis, 2021; Tripathi et al., 2015).

MPPT with speed control

Assuming that the machine and its drive are ideal therefore, whatever the power to be generated, the electromagnetic torque equals
to its reference value.
Tem ¼ Tem
MPPT (7)
The reference electromagnetic torque is given by:
 
Tem
MPPT ¼ PI: Uref
Um (8)

where PI is a Proportional Integral controller.

Uref ¼ UTurbine
ref :G (9)

with:

Fig. 6 Typical curve of the power output of a variable speed wind turbine.

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492 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

Vw
UTurbine
ref ¼ lopt (10)
R
The value of the speed ratio lopt is determined to keep Cp at its maximum value. To do this, an approximate example of evolution
of the power coefficient Cp (l, b) according to the speed ratio l for different blade pitch angle b is shown in Fig. 7. An increase of the
pitch angle leads to a decrease in the coefficient Cp.
In this study, the maximum power coefficient Cp-max ¼ 0,479 is obtained when b ¼ 0 and at a ratio speed l corresponds to its
optimum value (l ¼ lopt¼8.15). Obtaining values of Cp-max and lopt ensures the extraction of the maximum power from the wind.
Fig. 8 represents the block diagram of the turbine model and the MPPT strategy with speed control.

MPPT without speed control

In practice, an accurate measurement of wind speed is difficult to achieve. For this, a MPPT control strategy without speed control is
explored.
The setting electromagnetic torque is determined from the estimated aerodynamic torque (Krim et al., 2016):
Taer
est
Tem
MPPT ¼ (11)
G
The estimated aerodynamic torque is calculated as follows:
1 r:S:Cp
Taer
est ¼ V3 (12)
2 UTurbine
est w
est
An estimation of the turbine speed is obtained by measuring the mechanical speed:
Um
UTurbine
est ¼ (13)
G
The estimated value of the wind speed is calculated as follows:
UTurbine
est :R
Vw
est ¼ (14)
l
Thus, the estimated electromagnetic torque is given by:
1 r:Cp :p:R5 :U2m
Tem
MPPT ¼ (15)
2 l3 G3
Then, to extract the maximum from the available wind power, it is necessary to fix the speed ratio at lopt , which corresponds to
the maximum power coefficient Cp
max (Fig. 7).

1 r:Cp
max :p:R5 :U2m

Tem
MPPT ¼ (16)
2 l3opt G3

0.6
beta=0
(a) beta=3
0.5
Cpmax=0.4794
beta=7
beta=10
beta=13
citenCt pCp

0.4
oeerffcioceifefin

0.3
Powerpcow

0.2

0.1

λopt=8.15
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Speed ratio λ
Fig. 7 Power coefficient Cp(l) versus l.

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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid 493

Cp(λ,β) β Pitch angle control

× R
Vw
v
÷ TCaer
aer 1
Vv3w × + Ωm
- js f
0.5ρπR2 × ÷
Ω2m

Cem
×
Kopt

Vw Ωref PI
Tem-MPPT
G +
-

MPPT with speed control

Fig. 8 Block diagram of the MPPT with speed control.

Thus, the Eq. (17) gives the expressions of the maximum power and the electromagnetic torque obtained by the MPPT strategy
without speed control:
8
> PMPPT ¼ Tem
MPPT Um
<
1 r:p:R5 :Cp
max :U2m (17)
>
: Tem
MPPT ¼ 2
l3opt G3

Finally, the model of the wind turbine with MPPT strategy without speed control is summarized in Fig. 9:

Fig. 9 Model of the wind turbine and the MPPT strategy without speed control.

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494 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

Modeling and control of the PMSG

In order to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, the wind turbine studied in this work is coupled to a PMSG. The model
of the PMSG can be written, in Park synchronized rotation frame d-q, by the following equations:
8
>
> d 1 
>
< i ¼ V
Rs isd þ uLs isq
dt sd Ls sd
(18)
>
> d 1 
>
: isq ¼ Vsq
Rs isq
uLs isd
uJm
dt Ls
where Rs is the stator resistance, Ls is the stator inductance, isd and isq are the direct and quadrature components of the stator current
respectively, Vsd and Vsq are the direct and quadrature components of the stator voltage respectively, p is the number of pairs of poles
and Jm is the flux of permanent magnet.
In the d-q frame, the electromagnetic torque of the PMSG is defined by:
Tem ¼ pJm isq (19)

The mechanical rotation speed of the generator is defined by the following fundamental equation of the dynamic:
d
j Um ¼ Taer
Tem
f Um (20)
dt
where j is the inertia of the shaft and f is the coefficient of friction.
In this study, we have chosen, among the vector control strategies applied to the PMSG, the one which consists in imposing
a reference of the direct current isd* equal to zero to avoid additional joule losses (Ansel and Robyns, 2006). The torque generated
by the MPPT strategy is thus controlled by the regulation of the quadratic current isq.
8
>
< isd ¼ 0
Tem
MPPT (21)
> 
: isq ¼
pJm

The structure of the torque control by orientation of the stator current of the PMSG is designed around the use of two controllers
for the currents isd and isq. They are PI type controllers, which will be developed in the same way because the transfer functions on the
two axes d and q are identical. Thus, the values of the integral and proportional parameters of each controller will be equal. The
currents controllers provide the reference voltages Vsd*, Vsq*, which provide the reference voltages to the PWM (Pulse Width Modu-
lation) block to generate the duty cycles of the switches of the rectifier (PMSG-side converter) (See Fig. 10).
After determining the reference voltages Vsd* and Vsq*, it remains to determine the control voltages to be applied to the converter
by the following system of equations:

Fig. 10 Vector control design of the PMSG.

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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid 495

!  !
Usd 2 Vsd
¼ 
(22)
Usq Udc Vsq

According to the control voltages Usd and Usq , the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) generation bloc modulates the control
signals, Sa, Sb and Sc, by the comparison of the control voltages by a triangular signal.

Grid-side control strategy

The wind generator is connected to the power grid characterized by a voltage VR and a frequency of 50 Hz, through an inverter and
a filter composed by a resistance R and an inductance L. The converter makes it possible to control the active and reactive powers
exchanged with the power grid and to establish the voltage at PCC in the appropriate frequency. In addition, the grid side control
strategy ensures the control of the DC bus voltage.

Active and reactive power control strategy

The control strategy applied to the inverter allows regulating both the reactive and active powers exchanged between the wind gener-
ator and the grid independently, to ensure the operation at a unity power factor. The mathematical model of the used RL filter in the
d-q reference is defined by the following expression (Boukettaya and Naifar, 2015):
8
> d
>
< VNd ¼ R:id þ L: id
L:wR :iq þ VRd ¼ VNd1
L:wR :iq þ VRd
dt
(23)
>
>
: VNq ¼ R:iq þ L: d iq þ L:wR :id þ VRq ¼ VNq1 þ L:wR :id þ VRq
dt
where L and R are the inductance and resistance of the filter respectively, id and iq are the direct and quadratic currents injected into
grid respectively, VRd and VRq are the direct and quadratic voltages of the grid respectively, VNd and VNq are the direct and quadratic
inverter control voltages respectively.
The block diagram of the RL filter model is given by the Fig. 11:
The powers transmitted to the power grid, PR and QR, are defined by:
(
PR ¼ VRd :id þ VRq :iq
(24)
QR ¼ VRq :id
VRd :iq

The active and reactive powers are expressed as function of the direct and the quadratic components of the grid current. The
problem posed here is to be able to independently control the active and reactive powers. To do this, the d-axis of the reference
frame (d, q) is oriented along the grid voltage to cancel the quadrature component of the voltage (VRq ¼ 0) and consequently
VR ¼ VRd. Eqs. (23) and (24) become:
8
> d
>
< VNd ¼ R:id þ L: id
L:wR :iq þ VRd ¼ VNd1
L:wR :iq þ VR
dt
(25)
>
> d
: VNq ¼ R:iq þ L: iq þ L:wR :id ¼ VNq1 þ L:wR :id
dt
(
PR ¼ VR :id
(26)
QR ¼
VR :iq

Fig. 11 Block diagram of the RL filter model.

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496 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

We have chosen to work with a unity power factor. In this case, the reference reactive power must be zero (QR-ref ¼ 0). The two
reference powers PR-ref and QR-ref express the grid reference direct and quadrature currents id-ref and iq-ref respectively:
8
>
> PR
ref :VRd þ QR
ref :VRq PR
ref :
>
> i ¼ ¼
< d
ref 2
VRd 2
þ VRd VR
(27)
>
> PR
ref :VRq
QR
ref :VRd
> i
> ¼ ¼ 0
: q
ref 2
VRd þ VRd
2

System control is done using PI controllers (See Fig. 13A). These current controllers will be adjusted in the same way because the
transfer functions on the two axes d and q are identical. Consequently, the values of the integral and proportional gains of each
controller will be identical.
The reference active power injected to the power grid is defined by the following equation:
PR
ref ¼ Pg
Pdc ¼ Img :Udc
Idc :Udc (28)

where Pg is the power generated by the wind turbine and Pdc is the power stored in the DC bus.

Modeling and control of the DC bus

This part studies the regulation of the Udc voltage. A PI controller is used to keep the DC bus voltage Udc stable at its reference value
Udc*.
The DC bus is modeled by the following equations:
8
< dUdc ¼ 1I
dt c dc (29)
:
Idc ¼ img
im
gr

with:
 
img ¼ 1
Udc Vsd isd þ Vsq isq : is the current modulated from the PMSG-side converter;
 
im
gr ¼ U1dc VNd id þ VNq iq : is the modulated current from the grid-side converter;
Idc is the current of DC bus.
The adopted control loop of the DC bus voltage is depicted in Fig. 12:
The DC bus transfer function is deduced from Eq. (29) as follows (Krim et al., 2016):
Udc 1
Fdc ðsÞ ¼ ¼ (30)
Idc C:s
The PI controller is defined by the following form:
ki
dc ð1 þ sdc :sÞ
Rdc ðsÞ ¼ kp
dc þ ¼ Gdc (31)
s sdc :s
The current control closed loop transfer function H(p) is given by:
ð1 þ sdc :sÞ
Hdc ðsÞ ¼ (32)
1 þ sdc :s þ sGdcdc:Cs2

PI controllers are tuned by considering the pole placement method. The denominator of the closed loop transfer function is
compared to a desired characteristic equation whose dynamics are known as follows:
2:z 1
Pi ¼ 1 þ s þ 2 s2 (33)
un un

with z is the damping coefficient and un is the natural frequency (rad/s), this polynomial presents a minimum response time for z ¼
0.7 and un.tr-dc ¼ 3.
The controller parameters are tuned to fit the desired second-order polynomial using the following equations:

U*
dc Udc
+ Rdc (s) Fdc (s)
-

Fig. 12 DC bus control loop.

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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid 497

8
> 6:z
>
< Gdc ¼ t C
r
dc
(34)
>
> 2:z
:s
r
dc ¼ t
3 r
dc
The output of the DC bus voltage controller is the reference current Idc-ref. Multiplying this current with the measured DC bus
voltage gives the reference DC bus power Pdc*. When the Udc voltage is well regulated, Pdc* becomes zero on average. This method
of setting of the parameters of the PI controller of the DC bus voltage is the same for the controllers used in the controls of the
PMSG-side converter and the grid-side converter.
Finally, the diagram of the grid-side control strategy is presented in Fig. 13:
After determining the reference voltages VNd et VNq, it remains to determine the control voltages to be applied to the inverter by
the following system of equations:
! !
UNd 2 VNd
¼ (35)
UNq Udc VNq

According to the control voltages UNd and UNq , the PWM generation bloc modulates the control signals, Sa1, Sb1 and Ss1, by the
comparison of the control voltages by a triangular signal.

Fig. 13 Control scheme of the grid-side converter: (A) currents control, (B) control of the DC bus voltage.

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498 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

Simulation test

The validation of the presented WECS modeling, as well as the proposed control strategies, is carried out using the MATLAB/Simu-
link software. The simulation test is realized under the following conditions:

• Wind speed profile shown in Fig. 14A.

• Wind turbine with 3.5 kW of nominal power.
• A PMSG with a nominal speed of 157 rd/s and a pole pair number p ¼ 2.
In this simulation test, PIs controllers are used to control all subsystems of the WECS for simplification reasons. However, several
other types of controllers can be used to deal the problem of WECS nonlinearity, such as fuzzy logic (Muyeen and Al – Durra, 2013),
neural network (Cadenas and Rivera, 2009), and sliding mode controllers (Krim et al., 2017).
A wind generator is designed to operate in the nominal conditions, where the rotation speed must not exceed its nominal value.
The same for the produced power. For this, the pitch angle control intervened to control the rotation speed of the generator and thus
to limit it when the wind speed exceeds its nominal value. The mechanical speed of the machine is given by Fig. 14B and C gives the
variation of the pitch angle b. The operation of the pitch angle control system is summarized as follows: when the wind speed
exceeds its nominal value, the angle b increases, subsequently a power coefficient Cp decreases (see Fig. 14D), which limit the
produced power and the rotation speed.
As depicted in Fig. 15, the generated power of the wind generator is optimized with MPPT algorithm and keeps at his rated value,
which equal to 3.5 kW, when the wind speed exceeds its rated value.
With the vector control strategy applied to the PMSG, the simulation result of the quadratic component of the stator current isq is
shown in Fig. 16. Fig. 17 shows the variation of the electromagnetic torque of the PMSG provided by the implemented MPPT
strategy as function of the wind profile.
Thanks to the PI controllers, the electromagnetic torque, and the stator current isq follow their reference values with a little over-
shoot, because the PI controller has fixed parameters and is not designed for applications where there are uncertainties and distur-
bances that act on the system.

A
14
Wind speed (m/s)

12

10

6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
B Time (s)
200
PMSG speed (rpm)

150

100

50

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C Time (s)
10

8
Pitch angle beta

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
D Time (s)

0.5
Power coefficient Cp

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (s)

Fig. 14 Model of the wind turbine: (A) Wind speed, (B) Mechanical speed, (C) Pitch angle b, (D) Power coefficient Cp.

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Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid 499

Fig. 15 Active generated power (W).

20
Quadratic s tator c urrent

15
PI

10 18
Actual stator current isq 16
5 ideal stator current isq-ref
14
0 5.4 5.6 5.8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (s)
Fig. 16 Stator current isq.

60
Elec tromagnetic torque (N.m)

40
PI
50

20 45
Actual electromagnetic torque Cem 40
Ideal electromagnetic torque Cem-ref
0 6 6.2 6.4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (s)
Fig. 17 Electromagnetic torque generated by the MPPT strategy.

Fig. 18 shows the evolution of direct component of the current injected to the power grid. The response of these curve shows that
the PI has a good performance on tracking the reference, but with an overshoot following the rapid fluctuation of the wind. The
strong wind speed change affects the PI controllers.

15
Direc t grid c urrent

10 PI 16
5 14

0 Actual grid current ird 12

Ideal grid current ird-ref 10
-5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time (s)
Fig. 18 Direct current injected to the power grid id.

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500 Modeling, control, and simulation of a variable speed wind energy conversion system connected to the power grid

Fig. 19 Grid-side control strategy: (A) Reactive power injected to the power grid, (B) DC bus voltage.

Fig. 19A shows the simulation result of reactive power injected to the power grid. As can be seen, the system operates at unity
power factor. Thanks to the grid-side converter control strategy, the balance between production and consumption is achieved
despite the variable and intermittent profile of the wind speed. This balance is justified by keeping the DC bus voltage stable at
its reference value of 400 V (see Fig. 19B).

Conclusion

In this article, mathematical models of the different components of a variable speed WECS connected to the power grid have been
developed in the first time. The WECS is made up of a wind turbine, a PMSG, and a power converters interface for the connection
with the power grid. Secondly, a system control design of the WECS has been developed to ensure the operation in MPPT, to control
independently the active and reactive powers injected to the power grid, and to keep the DC bus voltage stable in its reference value
despite the wind fluctuations. Finally, the results of the simulation test have been commented and allowed to validate the math-
ematical models of the WECS, as well as the performances of the discussed control design.
In the current state, this work only considers a conventional wind energy conversion chain, it could however later integrate
storage systems to increase the contribution of wind generators to participate in system services and to form MG. Additionally,
future studies will focus on improving control strategies by integrating nonlinear control laws insensitive against external and
internal disturbances acting on the system. In addition, optimization elements, such as wind generation forecasting, the develop-
ment of management algorithms to form smart MGs, and the optimization of the sizing and management, must be considered in
further research works.

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